Council of Elders Report: December 5, 2022

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United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting Report
Milford, Ohio
Monday, December 5, 2022

Chairman Len Martin called the morning session to order at 9 a.m. Eastern, and the meeting was opened with prayer. All 12 Council of Elders (Council) members were present. Scott Ashley was online via Zoom.

President’s Report: Rick Shabi

President Rick Shabi began with a few personal thoughts. He commented that he has had time to assess the flocks as he mentioned in his last address in August. He is now settled and feels like he is home. He is impressed with the staff and the brethren in the area. Although he feels he’s ready to move the work forward, the assessment of the flock will continue to be on his mind.

He quoted Proverbs:24:27, “Prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house,” stating that this is a very important principle to him. He added a few personal thoughts, “Things may change, but the truth will always be there. Truth and love must always be a part of who we are. We now have things in place and the building needs to take place. However, we have to get on the same page.”

President Shabi then continued his report by briefly speaking about the areas that he has been involved in so far:

  • Feast of Tabernacles: we had great attendance, numbers increased over last year with higher in-person attendance. We need to put perspective on the Feast of Tabernacles for what it truly is; we need to stress the value of the holy convocation, especially the opening night at the Feast of Tabernacles. The opening night service should set the tone – praise, worship, fellowship with God and family; we are there to worship God.
  • Visiting local church areas: Mr. Shabi mentioned that it has been satisfying meeting the people and has found it very inspiring. He added that visiting the brethren is important to Him.
  • Buildings owned by the Church: Mr. Shabi shared his thoughts about the benefits of them. When God opens the door to purchasing buildings, we need to pursue them and use them to help build relationships and educational opportunities.
  • Congregational Care: We are commanded to take care of the sheep, the people (John 21), it’s an important part of our responsibility. We need to help congregations/ministers/members through education. Our lives are different, society has changed. We’re all trying to navigate these changes – we need to be guiding our brethren.
  • Talent: We have a ton of talent at the home office and within the church – we need to use it.
  • Mr. Shabi commented that the Home Office is in a unique position; we should be willing to set the standard for all congregations based on God’s vision for the church.
  • Ambassador Bible College: classes are in full swing; Mr. Shabi has attended some of the classes and is impressed with how it all works together, students and all. It’s an important part of the work of the Church.
  • The home office: The facility itself is a beautiful place: we have a wonderful studio, it has a purpose and it will be used more and more going forward.
  • Media Department: Mr. Shabi appreciates getting to know the younger people who are working in the media department and the talent they possess. He mentioned that we need to tap into this talent and use it to effectively reach both the older and the younger generations alike.
  • Are we being effective? We need to ask these questions and seek the answers on how God would have us be effective in our preaching of the gospel and taking care of His people.
  • The United Church of God website is a major key to what we are doing. The home page has been static for a few years. A home page redesign will be rolled out in Jan-Feb 2023.
  • We need to have that ladder of engagement: follow-ups, who is coming back, why, what caused this and how can we keep them coming back?
  • The New Testament commentary needs to be finished ASAP.
  • The United Church of God international ministerial work: Although a large portion of our membership is based in the United States, we have to keep in mind that we are an international work. We need to engage and work even closer with our international ministry and membership so that we can understand their needs and how best to support them.

President Shabi ended his presentation by reminding the Council that we need to always examine ourselves as a Church to see what we are doing and what can we do better. That’s our responsibility, that’s what it’s all about, to do the work as God desires.

Operation Manager Reports:

Ministerial and Member Services (MMS) - Mark Welch

Mr. Welch greeted everyone and commented about how grateful he was for God’s direction and guidance upon our Church and MMS. He added that it’s evident God continues to bless the efforts of the United Church of God and our operations in Ministerial and Member Services. Before he presented the material, Mr. Welch quoted a passage of scripture found in Ephesians:4:11-16. He mentioned that this particular passage speaks a lot to what he and the MMS team have been tasked to do. He added, “We are all in this together with a common goal. Every member adds to the strength, joints are important. We all must do our share.”

Mr. Welch then presented some of the major events that have taken place in MMS since the August meetings.

  • Two Recent deaths:
  • Elder - Christopher Ndunguyonga (Zambia, 10/18/2022)
  • Elder’s wife - Tina Engelbart (Northwest Arkansas, 08/17/2022)
  • We had one pastor retire since the August meetings: Randy Stiver (Rapid City, SD)
  • We had one resignation from the U.S. full-time ministry since the August meetings.
    • Steven Britt recently resigned for family and health reasons. Steven, along with his wife Danielle, did a wonderful job pastoring in Maryland and northern Virginia. Steven will continue to serve as an elder in central Georgia.
  • Change in ministerial assignments:
  • Ken Skorseth and Nick Lamoureux will now serve as pastor and assistant pastor for the congregations in South Dakota.
  • Ray Clore will serve as pastor for Northern Virginia and Columbia, MD.
  • Craig Scott added Richmond, VA to the congregations that he serves.
  • 145 Baptisms in 2022
  • Len Martin and Aaron Creech were appointed as the new UYC Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator.
  • The impact of COVID-19 on the Feast of Tabernacles was much improved in 2022 over 2021.
  • The national webcast production was successful, although six sites reported issues.
  • Charles Melear continues to work on the contracts for the 2023 U.S. Feast sites.
  • Bi-monthly online meetings with regional pastors continue.
  • The new monthly online reports are up and running.
  • Work continues on the Ministerial CEU program.

Mr. Welch then spent the remainder of his presentation giving an update on the French-speaking areas.

Europe:

  • Weekly, in-person church services in Bordeaux and those listening online averaged 55 people for November.
  • Active discussions with 10 prospective members and expect several baptisms in advance of Passover.
  • “Le Siècle of Venir” (Age to Come) Church of God group in Belgium (45 people) continues to make regular donations (€5,000 received in November). In regular dialogue.
  • Production of four children’s videos (Poly Col y Toly series) has been completed, so we now have all seven completed explaining each of the Holy Days.
  • Voiceover production of “Boat” and “Sand” ucg.org short films have been completed and posted to YouTube.
  • Seven new French language sermons were posted to YouTube in November – we now have 161 videos on our site, including music videos.
  • French-edition Beyond Today Magazine “Ukraine” November-December cover well received.

West Africa:

  • Church in Côte d’Ivoire officially recognized by the government; (the first official recognition of Francophone Church in Africa).
  • 2.5-acre parcel purchased in Blolé, Côte d’Ivoire. In discussions with village chiefs about office and hall construction and how to serve the community.
  • 400 visitors attended public evangelism event during Feast in Blolé, Côte d’Ivoire. 
  • 0.5-acre parcel purchased in Porto Novo, Benin. In discussions with LifeNets Australia on the construction of a language and literacy center that will also be used for church services.
  • Togo brethren kept the Feast on the church property in Momé Hagou for the first time as new dormitories were completed. Will save money in Feast subsidies.

Central and East Africa:

  • Pastor of Cameroon, Moise Mabout, transitioned out of his role in West Africa and now reports directly to Aaron Dean and oversees the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • In discussions with a Francophone group of 25 in Madagascar and coordinating with Monte Knudson on how best to support them.

Haiti:

  • Supporting Chuck Smith in Haiti now that the English-speaking deacon has moved back to the U.S. given the unrest in Haiti.

Media and Communications Services - Peter Eddington

Mr. Eddington began by presenting the media statistics since the August meetings.

  • United News circulation is currently at 18,677, which is 1.2% more than this time last year and our all-time high.
  • Our coworker count is now at 8,726—0.8% lower than the same time last year. Our all-time high was May 2022 with 9,023.
  • Our donor list now includes 9,440 people—10.9% lower than this time last year. (Our all-time high was 10,913 in January of 2022.)
  • Total Beyond Today magazine circulation worldwide is at 326,806 for the Nov.-Dec. 2022 issue—which is 0.1% less than the same time last year. Our Sep.-Oct. 2022 issue was 335,467—our highest since January 2013.
  • U.S. magazine subscribers are at 277,363 for the Nov.-Dec. 2022 issue. This is 0.7% less than the same time last year. Our Sep.-Oct. 2022 issue was 285,250—our highest since March 2012.
  • The December subscriber development letter from Rick Shabi is being prepared to send to 186,695 subscribers. It offers “Tools for Spiritual Growth.” Responses are expected to begin coming in during the final week of December.
  • Those people on our U.S. file associated with the Church (teens, members, associated) as of November 30 is 11,937—1.4% lower than last November.
  • The number of telephone and website responses from Beyond Today TV since 2006 stands at 401,172.
  • The Church’s Beyond Today YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV has had 15.25 million video views since November 2006 (a 5.8% increase since last November) and has 68,600 subscribers (a 4.9% increase since last October).
  • The most popular Beyond Today video programs on YouTube are:
    • The Moment After You Die — 2.3 million views.
    • The Lost Tribes of Israel: Why They Matter — 912,000 views (a 1.4% increase since last November).
    • Moving Beyond Tragedy — 484,000 views.
    • Who Are the Two Witnesses? — 316,000 views (a 1.9% increase since last November).
    • You Can Understand Bible Prophecy — 242,000 views.
  • The number of Google, Yahoo and Bing advertising impressions since 2004 stands at 12.58 billion.

 

Mr. Eddington reports that we have spent $264,000 since October 2021 on Roku Advertising. The result of this expense is 25,000 ads running per day and 253 videos being watched per day during the past 12 months. He also presented the results from the six years of the advertising that began on November 26, 2016.

Figures through November 19, 2022:

  • 48.9 million advertising impressions
  • 409,219 advertising clicks
  • 316,732 channel installs
  • 881,093 unique viewers
  • 1,197,633 channel sessions
  • 1,045,181 videos watched

 

Figures for the past 12 months:

  • 9.37 million advertising impressions
  • 49,450 advertising clicks
  • 38,710 channel installs
  • 112,898 unique viewers
  • 147,143 channel sessions
  • 92,241 videos watched
  • 59.83 average minutes on the channel for the last 12 months
  • Our cost per advertising impression is currently 1.5 cents

 

We are continuing to air on a number of television stations across the nation. These stations change periodically as we remove less-performing stations and replace them with new testing options. A complete station listing can be found at https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/station-listing.

The United Church of God continues to receive checks from the AmazonSmile Foundation. The amount donated to the Church as of November 2022 is $25,840. This is a 20% increase over last November.
Alexa.com, a site we have used for many years to evaluate our website traffic and rankings, shut its doors on May 1. Another service we can use for some traffic statistics is similarweb. Similarweb.com reported that ucg.org was ranked #208 in the global category of “Community and Society > Faith and Beliefs” as of September 2022.

Treasurer and Financial Services Report: Rick Shabi

The position of Treasurer is still vacant, so Mr. Shabi presented the recent financial statements. He reports that the financial results continue to be outstanding. We have a strong budget due to a generous membership and being blessed by God. He then quickly presented the following:

  • Auditor’s report from the external audit that was conducted in September. The entire audit report will be published in the January edition of the United News.
  • Cash and cash equivalents are up 25% over the prior year.
  • Total assets are up by 18%.
  • Three mortgages paid off as of December 1, 2022.
  • The total unrestricted cash is up by 10% and the restricted cash is up 7.2% since June 2022.
  • Healthcare claims running less than budgeted.
  • Income is up by 4.9% over fiscal year 2021.
  • Fall Holy Day offerings were up by 5% over the prior year.
  • October/November income above budget by 14%.

 

Committee Chairman Reports:
Doctrine Committee (DC) - Mario Seiglie
Mr. Seiglie reports that the DC met on November 29, 2022 to discuss three papers that have been submitted for review by the Council.

  • Voting and Politics
  • Hebrew Calendar: Appendix B - Section 2
  • Did the Father Forsake Jesus Christ?

Members on the DC: Scott Ashley, Jorge de Campos, Darris McNeely, Mario Seiglie (chair) and Rex Sexton.
Education Committee (EC) - Aaron Dean
Mr. Dean reports that since our last meeting the EC met two times on the assignments mandated to the EC by the Council.

  • Ministerial Survey
  • Marriage

Mr. Dean also reported that the EC will be addressing another assigned topic concerning what is proper for church services.

  • What is appropriate for sermonette time?
  • What is the procedure when men are not available?
  • What can be done for special music when there is little or no musical talent?
  • What is God’s expectation?

ABC is nearing the end of the first semester with 26 students, with the current expectation that three young ladies from Chile will join the class in January.

We are trying to see how we can continue training in all areas, particularly in international areas, to have more leaders that are indigenous to their region. Currently, most travel restrictions are lifted and the president and MMS are looking at what can be done.

Members on the EC: Aaron Dean (chair), Jorge de Campos, Rex Sexton, Brian Shaw and Paul Wasilkoff.

Ethics Committee - John Elliott
Mr. Elliott reported that the Ethics Committee has no mandated duties or assignments at this time. He then presented the annual reading of the Council Code of Ethics. All Council members are required to have a signed copy of the Council Code of Ethics on file with the secretary.

Members on the Ethics Committee: John Elliott (chair), Mario Seiglie, Rex Sexton and Paul Wasilkoff.

Media and Communications Committee (MCC) - Scott Ashley

Mr. Ashley reports that since our last Council meetings the MCC met on November 30, 2022 via Zoom to review the Media Operation Manager’s report prior to the December Council meetings. Various questions were brought up and discussed by the committee.

No other assignments or projects have been mandated to the MCC at this time.

Members on the Media and Communications Committee: Scott Ashley (chair), Jorge de Campos, Darris McNeely, Brian Shaw and Paul Wasilkoff.

Roles and Rules Committee (RRC) - Dan Dowd

Mr. Dowd addressed the following topics:

  • Alternate names to consider for a couple of Council sub-committees will be discussed later in these meetings.
  • No sub-committee terms are expiring before the February 2023 meetings.
  • In junction with the secretary, review the proposed 2023 GCE ballot amendments.
  • Progress is being made on collecting all Council resolutions since 1995 into a searchable database or Word document.
  • The process and timeline for selecting a new president has been posted on the Council Sharepoint site.
  • There is no progress to report regarding a draft policy for elder re-admittance (remanded to the committee at the August 2022 Council meetings). The committee will have something to present at the next Council meeting.
  • There is no progress to report regarding reviewing the requirements to be on a committee (remanded to the RRC committee). The committee will have something to present at the next Council meeting.
  • The timeline for the assessments of the President and Secretary will go out after these meetings for work to be done before the February 2023 meetings.

Members on the RRC: Dan Dowd (chair), John Elliott, John Miller.

Strategic Planning and Finance Committee (SPFC) - John Miller

Mr. Miller began the presentation by discussing the SPFC’s current projects:

  • Regional property plan – no progress since August meetings.
  • Employee retention.
  • 2023 Strategic plan – since the August Council meetings has met with the president many times and will be presenting results later this week.

 

Members on the SPFC: Aaron Dean, Dan Dowd, Darris McNeely, John Miller (chair) and Brian Shaw.

Executive Committee (EC) - Len Martin

Len reported that the EC met three times since the August meeting. In accordance with our governing documents, actions of the EC require ratification by the entire Council at the next quarterly meeting. The items presented to the Council were:

  • Tulsa, Oklahoma congregation received a payment from the city for an easement in the front of the property required for widening of the road.
  • Possible purchase of a church building for the Oshkosh, WI congregation.
  • Possible purchase of a church building for the Santiago, Chile congregation.

 

Actions on all three matters were ratified by the Council.

Members on the EC: Scott Ashley, Aaron Dean, Dan Dowd, Darris McNeely, Len Martin (Chair)

At 12:05 p.m. the Council took a break for lunch.

Chairman Len Martin called the afternoon session to order at 1:00 p.m.

Kerry Roe, a CPA from Clark, Schaefer, & Hackett lead a presentation concerning our recent audit.

The council went into planned executive session at 1:19 p.m.

During the executive session, the Council approved President Shabi’s recommendation for Barry Korthuis to become the next treasurer, and also Financial Services operation manager, of the Church.

At 4:45 p.m. the Council came out of executive session and adjourned for the day.

-end-

Council Reporter
Ryan Hall
[These are not the official minutes from the Council meeting. Elders can find those at the Home Office with the Council Secretary. Video recordings are posted for the elders on the UCG Ministerial Resource Site.]
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